Medical professionals are lashing out in response to a medical journal article claiming that beachwear social media photos are unprofessional, and #MedBikini is now a thing as a result.
The original article, titled “Prevalence of Unprofessional Social media Content Among Young Vascular Surgeons,” sparked controversy after it implied that patients may lean towards or away a physician based on what kind of photos they post to social media.
“It has been demonstrated that publicly available social media content may affect patient choice of physician, hospital, and medical facility. Furthermore, such content has the potential to affect professional reputation among peers and employers,” the article read.
Scouring a list of graduating vascular surgery trainees from 2016 to 2018, the authors of the article began looking at all of the new surgeons’ public photos on social media- and took special interest in those who were less conservatively-dressed.
However, it should be noted that the article’s researchers also took exception to other matters as well.
“Clearly unprofessional content included: Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act violations, intoxicated appearance, unlawful behavior, possession of drugs or drug paraphernalia, and uncensored profanity or offensive comments about colleagues/work/patients,”the article read. “Potentially unprofessional content included: holding/consuming alcohol, inappropriate attire, censored profanity, controversial political or religious comments, and controversial social topics. Descriptive data were compiled and Fisher exact test was used for categorical comparisons.”
The article itself appears to serve as a warning for up-and-coming young surgeons to lock down social media.
“One-half of recent and soon to be graduating vascular surgery trainees had an identifiable social media account with more than one-quarter of these containing unprofessional content,” the article read. “Account holders who self-identified as vascular surgeons were more likely to be associated with unprofessional social media behavior. Young surgeons should be aware of the permanent public exposure of unprofessional content that can be accessed by peers, patients, and current/future employers.”
However, this is 2020, and outrage soon began to emerge over the matter of surgeons in bikinis.
In short order, #MedBikini became a trending hashtag on Twitter, with many female medical personnel showing their beachwear in protest.
While some comments were tongue-in-cheek, others were less professional and more divisive.
“Because… #medbikini also… Women’s rights are human rights,” wrote Janel Paukovits, an Emergency Medicine Physician and Admin/Ops fellow at UH Cleveland Medical Center. “Black lives matter. Love is love. Science is real. Wear a mask. No human is illegal. F*ck Trump. Is that enough unprofessional content for you?”
Unfortunately for Paukovits, not everyone liked what she had to say.
“Embarrassed on behalf of UH Cleveland,” replied one individual. “Seriously scared if I’m ever in the city and need emergency care.”
“You’re like a malfunctioning ‘woke cliché’ machine,” replied another.
Across the web, #MedBikini appears to attempt to take a new approach to professionalism and social media- but at least it’s more aesthetically appealing than a PowerPoint presentation.
© 2020 Bright Mountain Media, Inc. All rights reserved.
The content of this webpage may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written consent of Bright Mountain Media, Inc. which may be contacted at info@brightmountainmedia.com, ticker BMTM.